As Fernando Romero, a schoolteacher in Buenos Aires, ate breakfast, these lines crossed his mind: “I was born in Argentina, in the land of Diego and Lionel, children of the Malvinas, which I will never forget.” He set the lyrics to the background score of the popular song Muchachos composed by reggae and punk nine-piece band La Mosca Tse-Tse on the stroke of the century.
Argentinians refer to the Islas Malvinas and claim sovereignty over them as the Falkland Islands – now a self-governing British Overseas Territory, but also the cause of a 10-week war in 1982.
Little did Romero know then, that in December 2020, a week after Maradona’s death, his song would become his country’s sports anthem, played passionately by fans in stadiums, players in locker rooms and people on the streets.
Romero wasn’t the first song to mean “boys, we’re gonna get drunk”; Many adaptations can be heard during club games in most stadiums around Buenos Aires. But it became the most iconic, and the band, which disbanded several years ago, reunited to re-record the song with Romero’s lyrics.
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He wanted to sing during the World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Bolivia at the Estadio Monument in Buenos Aires. But he could not get the ticket. He and his friends began singing the song outside the arena, which was captured by a local television crew and watched and later re-recorded by the original band members.
The band won the equivalent of a national award and Romero was invited to sing the song for an audience that included Lionel Messi. His only regret, he told Argentine media outlet EFE, was not being able to take a photo with Messi.
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People stop him on the street and thank him. “They have told me that I have done more for them with songs than for the last 40 years of democracy,” he said. EFE. For this version he tweaked the chorus again to suit the context. “I want to win the third, I want to be world champion again.” Messi prefers his original, written for the 2022 World Cup. The song still resonates with fans, and most of them have internalized the lines and hum them in public spaces.
In fan zones, parks, supermarkets and airports, packed with Argentinians for Wednesday’s semi-final against England, the song is on the tip of fans’ tongues. In a corner of the Atlanta airport, Lorenzo Alberto watched a reel his friend had sent him to the city from Argentina’s round-of-16 match against Egypt a few days earlier. He was waiting for his flight to Kansas for the quarterfinals. He quickly took out his earphones and said: “You should watch this without earphones and you’ll think you’re on the stand again.” He then recited almost the entire chorus of Muchachos
He explained his connection to the fans: “It fills us with energy and faith. It’s an identity,” he said, raising his voice, angered by the piercing gaze of a security guard. He doesn’t stop and she doesn’t care. “Even if you’re the only person in the stadium, or I’m among non-Argentine fans, I’ll sing it. Even if they’re English fans,” he says.
But a reference to the Falklands War, or Malvina War as Argentina calls it, sparked controversy after videos of Argentine footballers singing Muchachos in the dressing room. The win over Switzerland ensured a competitive game between football’s bitterest rivals for the first time since 2005. But FIFA decided not to issue any sanctions, despite insisting that it would crack down on “political expression in stadiums”.
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Forty years have passed since the battle for the archipelago in the South Atlantic cost 9,000 lives. The outrage may have subsided, but the old timers still care. Says Birmingham’s John Byers, who has watched every World Cup from the stands since 1994: “What happened to the war? They took it and we took it back a few days later. People were happy and it was a completely unnecessary incursion. Argentina have always beaten us. Cheating!”
“It may have happened a long time ago, but not forgotten. We cannot keep politics out of the game,” he added.
Politicians have also fueled the animosity. Verbal weapons were exchanged between the ministers of both the countries. After the semi-final run-in to the final, Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno claimed that the 2013 referendum in the Falklands had been “artificially implanted by the occupying power.” 99.8% of the population said they were happy with British rule. But Quirno wrote in La Nacion: “Time does not transform illegal occupation into sovereignty. Nor will it divide the territorial unity of the Argentine Republic,” he wrote.
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Downing Street reacted swiftly on Monday. “The UK’s position is clear. Islanders have repeatedly expressed their desire to remain a British overseas territory and their right to self-determination is paramount,” the prime minister’s spokesman said in a statement.
Often vilified as provocateurs, Argentina fans are eager to shake off the image. “We’re not for anything violent. We’ll celebrate, but even if the atmosphere is tense, we won’t hurt,” says Marco Allen, who went to the game with his son Benjamin.
Social media has also been awash with Argentina’s fanbase who have given the Spanish wonderwall a hearty nod.
But he says Muchachos will drown out any other noise in the arena, where 30,000 English fans are expected to be equipped with their songs. Byers says, “It’s time we avenged the hand of God, maybe we should pay them back in the same coin. A place in the finals awaits the winner, but that’s a well-worn cliché. A match is more than just a game.”